Here We Go Again
by Zokk
Summary: Back in Roanapur after the Tokyo Fiasco, as it came to be known; the Lagoon Company begins to resume normal operations. Of course, with their luck and line of work, that doesn't last long. M for violence, language and some sexuality.
1. Aftermath

**I'm uploading it in bits and pieces, adding to it as I fill in the blank spaces between the initial events. There will be new content added to chapters even after they've been uploaded. So please be patient and stay tuned as I put more of it together.  
**

Getting stabbed apparently took a lot out of her. That, and the drugs she was taking for her leg.

Revy came to stand next to him as he hung up the phone, finished talking with Dutch.

"We've got a plane to catch, partner."

She didn't even say it mockingly. It sounded as if she might actually mean it.

"Yeah," Rock told her, turning to face her more directly, "Dutch says we've got a serious shipment of guns coming in that we're supposed to deliver for a client the day after tomorrow. He wants us back in Roanapur as soon as possible to help out with it."

"That's Dutch for you. Always business- just can't wait." She glanced down at her right leg, now encased in a hybrid walking cast they'd managed to pick up from a medical supply store, "Lot of good _I'm_ gonna be, though. Can't even _climb stairs_ that well with this god damn thing. Least you don't have to be able to run a marathon to be able to shoot someone..."

"Or, if they'll hold still long enough, you could always beat them to death with that crutch..." Rock commented darkly, before checking the time. Revy looked at him for a second, then grinned.

"Yeah, there's that. I'll have to keep that in mind."

It had already been three days since the dock-side duel between her and Ginji- gun versus sword, respectively. You'd think it'd be a no-brainer who'd win, but it turned out to end quite badly for both of them. A bit worse for the katana-wielding Yakuza thug, though. He caught a bullet through the throat; she only caught his sword through the leg.

Withing minutes, Revy had been taken to a nearby hospital and stitched up by an expert team of trauma surgeons. There'd been a lot of damage done to both muscle and tendons, but they'd been able to repair most of it successfully. Released into general care, she'd been cleared just the day before, with advice from the staff to stay off that leg for at least three weeks, and that she'd most likely need physical therapy if she wanted to regain full use of it in the future.

Obviously, she'd ignored the first, and was probably going to ignore the second as well. But that was Revy for you: Stubborn to the core, even if it killed her.

"C'mon. The flight leaves in twenty minutes."

Rock turned and headed towards the security checkpoint farther down. Revy had agreed and already mailed her cutlasses back via air-mail after a brief discussion with him back at the hotel. It wasn't like they needed, after all this, to be labeled as terrorists and have to explain to airport security why they were trying to board a flight out of the country with a pair of fully-loaded large-caliber handguns.

They made it through security without incident, other than the officer with the magnetic wand doing a full body scan on Revy; mostly due to the cast she was wearing, much to her annoyance.

Gate twenty-five was a long way down- near the end of the north wing concourse. As they walked, Rock could tell Revy was in discomfort, her leg bothering her more than if she was standing still, even with the pain-killers. She would never admit it though- never complain- just grit her teeth and bear it. For her, admitting weakness was social suicide. Same for pretty much everyone else living in Roanapur, or just with a similar background to hers.

They timed it perfectly. making it just in time for the final boarding call for the flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. Even though they'd cut it really close, they still ended up having to stand in line for several minutes, slowly inching along before they could eventually take their seats. Revy seemed to be contemplating taking a swing at the person in front of her, and Rock shook his head subtly when she glanced back at him briefly. Her eyes narrowed, but she apparently took the hint and refrained from starting a fight there in the isle.

Finally making it to the assigned row first, Revy moved all the way over th the seat farthest from the small walkway, "I get the window..." she told her companion.

Rock just nodded, "Yeah, sure."


	2. Call and Return

**I'm uploading it in bits and pieces, adding to it as I fill in the blank spaces between the initial events. There will be new content added to chapters even after they've been uploaded. So please be patient and stay tuned as I put more of it together.**

That night, the Lagoon Company decided to celebrate the return of their two co-workers in one piece down at the Yellow Flag; dinner and drinks all around.

Sitting at a table near a corner of the room, Rock was discussing some of the events of the trip to Japan with Dutch and Benny. Revy was nowhere to be seen. At a break in the conversation, Dutch changed the subject briefly, looking across the table to Rock.

"Hey, Rock," he said, glancing briefly away towards the staircase to the second floor, "haven't seen Revy in a while... You mind going to check on her?" He laughed, "Make sure she hasn't tried to climb out a window or something?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll be right back" he replied, getting up from his place at the table and crossing the bar to go upstairs.

Normally, the second floor was reserved for 'private' use, but since the converted warehouse they used as their headquarters had been destroyed in what had quickly become one giant cluster-fuck, Flora, the madam who owned the space, agreed to rent them rooms until they sorted things out.

Climbing the stairs, he stopped at the third door on the left and knocked quietly. No answer. He knocked again, a bit more loudly this time. Still no answer. Trying the door handle, Rock found it was unlocked, and cautiously stepped into the room. Half-expecting to have something thrown at him, or more likely, being shot at, he was somewhat surprised when nothing happened.

He stepped farther into the room, looking around. Revy was across, curled up on the low sofa under the window, fast asleep. He smiled faintly at how peaceful she actually looked- not so much like her usual bad-tempered self. Rock shook his head slightly, noticing the mostly empty bottle of pain killers on the desk next to her. It probably never occurred to her that it _was_ actually possible to overdose on those things. Just to be sure, he came to stand over her, looking down. She was still breathing, so there was probably nothing to worry about. He turned, glancing back one more time as he headed for the door. Turning out the lights and shutting it behind him, he left as quietly as he came.

Back downstairs, Rock came back to Dutch and Benny having some kind of pointed conversation about business ethics.

"I'm telling you," Benny was saying to the larger man, "think about it, Dutch. I mean, just once, stop and think about it. If we really knew anything about half the stuff we ship, would you really want to live with yourself, knowing that you could be helping a cause that could be all for total _genocide_ or something?"

Dutch set down his glass, "We're not paid to think; we're paid to _move stuff around_. We take things from point A to point B. After that, it's no concern of ours what the client does with it, or what they did with it before. In this line of work, you start thinking too much about the ethics of it all, asking too many questions, you're likely to end up as swiss cheese to go out with the trash."

"There's no honor amongst thieves," Rock interrupted, "You've been here longer than I have- I would have thought you'd have caught onto that one a long time ago."

Benny looked at him, "Well, _yeah_, it's not like I don't _know_ that," he told him, "it's just sometimes you get these bouts of a return of conscience, you know? You can't really help it."

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about," Dutch told him, "I'm not saying I don't get that too sometimes- the only one I don't think does is Revy- but the point is: You get too involved, you're only going to get yourself into trouble." He turned to Rock, "So what's up with Revy, anyway?"

Sitting down again, Okajima told him, "She's just upstairs, asleep. I don't know if it's the alcohol or the pain killers that knocked her out. Probably both."

"Not the greatest idea to mix those two," the captain commented seriously.

"You can try to tell _her_ that. Doubt it'll do any _good..._" Benny added.

Just then, Dutch looked up in the direction of the front door. The other two followed his example.

A group of three men had just walked in. None of the Lagoon Company had ever seen them around before. That wasn't a good sign. Ignorant to the ways of the city, newcomers weren't welcomed all that much in Roanapur. More often than not, their first, last and only welcome would be a hail of gunfire, and that would be that. Basically, newcomers meant something was about to go down.

Most of the time, it's some overconfident moron who thinks he can take on the whole place with just a gun and some luck, if someone pisses him off. It usually ends with said moron getting filled full of holes. A few times, you'll get someone who isn't looking for trouble, but ends up finding it anyway. A wrong place, a wrong time, a wrong word, and they're looking down the barrel of a gun. If they're good, they can get away without having their head blown off, but half the time, the victim, even if allowed to live, is thrown across the room and lands in someone's meal or poker game. Then it's war.

The new trio looked to be the 'overconfident moron' type, which meant the shit was going to hit the fan sooner, rather than later.

"_Oh, great..._" Dutch muttered, taking another drink. Briefly, his hand rested on the three-fifty-seven magnum he always carried with him. One hell of a revolver. He liked it- it got the job done quickly and cleanly, when needed.

And it looked as if he was going to need it soon enough.

Heads turned to follow the men as they made their way over to the bar.

Sitting down at the counter, Bao eyed the three men with suspicion, "What can I get you?" he asked.

"Whatever you got." the man in the middle told him, looking past the bartender to the various alcoholic beverages on the shelves behind him.

He turned away from the customers and busied himself with preparing the drink. Finished, he set the full glass down in front of the man who'd asked for it. He picked it up and looked at it briefly before taking a swig. Almost instantly, he stopped, spitting it back out.

"What the fuck is _this?_" he demanded.

"Gin and tonic," the barman told him coolly.

"_Gin and tonic?_" the man growled, "I fucking _hate_ tonic water!" He had stood up now, hands curled into fists on the bar's surface.

"You said whatever I got, and that's what I got."

"You trying to be _funny_, asshole?"

"Hey," Bao said, getting irritated, "You don't like it; you should be more specific next time."

"Yeah? Well _here's_ something specific for you!" The customer pulled a gun from under his jacket and waved it in Bao's face, "How 'bout you get me something different, and I won't blow your fucking _head off?_"

The bartender glanced down at the shotgun he always kept under the counter for when the shit hit the fan.

"Well, you gonna do it or-"

"Ah, shut the fuck up already!" someone shouted from a corner of the room. The man holding the gun turned in the direction of the voice and fired off a round, not caring whether it hit the target or not.

That was the last straw. The tension that had been present since the newcomers arrived reached a breaking point. In an instant, guns were drawn, rounds being chambered. At the Lagoon table, the three of them were watching the whole thing play out, waiting for their opportunity to leave without getting holed.

The disgruntled customer grinned, "What, you want to-" he was cut off by a shot from the patron who'd told him to shut up. The bullet missed, slamming into the bottles behind the bar, shattering several of them with the impact.

"God damn it, watch where you're aiming!" The barman shouted across the room, "You have any idea how expensive some of that stuff is? 'Cause you're payng for it!" He dove for the floor as the customers opened fire- newcomers against regulars; regulars against other regulars. In seconds it devolved into a free-for-all shoot-out, just like it always did.

Crouched behind their now overturned table for cover, Rock, Dutch and Benny looked at each other, wishing they'd walked out sooner.

"Here we go again..." Dutch muttered to himself, unable to be heard over the noise of the general chaos. A spray of bullets hit their table and he swore, taking a second to return fire from behind the thoroughly abused eating surface.

"Why does everything have to go wrong when we're here?" Rock asked the other two, more in annoyance than panic.

"Shit happens even when we're _not_ here!" Benny told him, wincing as a stray bullet whizzed over his head.

"Where's Revy when you need her, _god damn it?_" Dutch asked fiercely, taking another couple of pot-shots at the crowd.

As if to answer the question, they heard the distinct and familiar sound of a pair of cutlasses firing away, accompanied by a steady stream of obscenities.

"_What the _fuck_ is going on down here? Ever occur to you cock-suckers that some people are trying to fucking _sleep? _Hey! Hey, you! Yeah, you! Hold still, dipshit!_"

"About damn_ time..._" Dutch said.

Rock chanced a look out from behind their hiding place. Standing in the stairwell, Revy was leaning against the wall to keep the weight off her injured leg, both hands full of death, firing away at anyone she could target fast enough. The injury sure didn't do anything to hamper her shooting ability. People were falling left and right under her steady barrage of gunfire.

"Revy! We're making an exit!" Dutch called to her.

"You think I don't _know that?_" she snarled back, still shooting.

"Can you make it over here?"

"The _fuck_ do _you_ think?"

Alright, we'll come to you!" Dutch shouted before turning to Rock and Benny, "Get ready to make a run for it, and keep your heads down!"

Benny rolled his eyes, "No _shit..._"

"And... _Go!_"

On the signal, all three of them leapt from behind the table, Dutch in front, providing cover fire for the other two as they dodged bodies and bullets to get to the stairwell. Half way there, all they had to worry about was being gunned down by Revy. Making the forty foot death run, the members of the Lagoon Company retreated up the stairs, shooting back down into the bar as they went, just to be sure. It was a bit quieter once they were up there.

Leaning against the wall at the top of the stairs, Revy asked, "So who's brilliant idea was _this_ load of bullshit, huh?"

"New guys in town." Benny told her, "Bao served one of 'em something weird, and he just flipped out..."

"_Figures..._"

"So how're we planning on getting out of here?" Rock wanted to know.

Dutch answered, "You know that comment I made earlier?"

Revy raised a suspicious eyebrow, looking from the captain to the ex-business man.

"The window?" Rock asked tentatively.

"Yep."

"Wait, _what?_" Revy demanded, "The fucking _window?_ Are you _trying_ kill me?"

"Unless you've got a _better_ idea..." Dutch challenged.

"No..."

"Then let's get the hell out of here..."

Revy shook her head, stowing her guns and muttering darkly, "This is going to be _so_ fucking fun..."

Opening the window at the far end of the hall, Dutch stuck his head out and looked both ways.

"Seems clear." he said, climbing up onto the window sill. It was amazing the big man could even fit in such a small space. In one single motion, he jumped, landing cleanly and smoothly in the alley one floor below. Looking back up he indicated for the others to follow suit. Benny went first, not quite as gracefully as Dutch had though. Rock turned to Revy, giving her the opportunity to go ahead of him. She just jerked a thumb in the direction of the window. Apparently she was determined to be the last one out.

Taking the hint, Rock climbed out the window as well, opting to lower himself to hang from the sill before letting go into a eight foot drop. Hitting the ground close to the wall of the building, he over-corrected, trying to stay away from it, and stumbled backwards, nearly falling over a half-full trash can. Above him, Revy laughed mockingly. He looked up, glaring at her.

"Come on, Revy!" Dutch chided, "You going to get down here or what?"

"Yeah, I'm _coming!_" she snapped, hoisting herself onto the window frame. Using the same tactic as Rock, she hung from the window before letting go. Normally, she'd have scoffed at the idea of copying him, and just jumped it, but she didn't feel like adding another item to the list of injuries she'd sustained over the past week or so. This one alone was pissing her off to no end. She looked down as Dutch took a step forward, ready to help her down. She sighed and gave up- no point in killing herself just to keep her ego intact. Just this once, though.

She let go, allowing Dutch to catch her. Obligingly, he quickly put her down before she could start in on him for doing it. Coming to stand mostly on her own, she stared at the ground for a moment.

"Benny, go get the car." Dutch told their computer specialist. A sudden explosion came from the front of the building, "And make it fast." he added.


End file.
